Draymond's scoring ‘gravy' Warriors clearly need right now

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The Warriors don't rely on Draymond Green to score. 

They don't consider him their secondary scorer, or even their tertiary scorer. Instead, they rely on him to be their primary facilitator and a main rebounder. So when Green does score, "it’s just kind of gravy," according to Steve Kerr.

"It doesn’t really matter if he scores or not, but when he scores it’s just a plus," Kevon Looney added. "He’s going to impact the game no matter what. If he has zero (points) he’s probably going to have 10 blocks and 13 assists and 11 rebounds. He does it all for us on the court, and when he’s scoring it’s just extra."

Green provided all the gravy for the Warriors in their 136-97 win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night as he finished with 15 points on 5-of-8 shooting, including three 3-pointers, 13 assists, five rebounds and two steals. 

Last month, Green said that Kerr had been encouraging him to take more shots. It wasn't something Green needed to be hunting for, but if a good look presented itself, he should feel good about taking it. 

Player development coach Seth Cooper told him that him knocking them down was just about always being ready to shoot.

When Green is making buckets, it opens up the floor for the Warriors. It gives them another offensive threat that their opponent probably didn't plan for. And with Golden State currently riding an eight-man rotation and missing 22 combined points from Kelly Oubre Jr. and Damion Lee, the team will gladly take the extra scoring boost from anywhere they can get it. 

"For him to know how certain teams are going to defend us, he’s going to get certain shots," Steph Curry said. "We always have confidence in him to take those and tonight it looked great. He looked confident. He knew what he was doing and that should carry over to games coming up.

"Obviously, he’s looking to play-make and get guys involved and use the way teams are defending against him in terms of his playmaking abilities, but we’re really good when he’s another threat, especially behind the line."

But the gravy Green's scoring gives the Warriors goes beyond the X's and O's of the game. It adds a little extra sauce to the energy level Golden State plays with. And that's saying something, considering that Green already is looked at as the Warriors' engine and heartbeat. 

"We all stick our chest out when he gets going like that," Looney said. 

It's the way Green's demeanor changes when he starts knocking down shots -- his trash-talking gets a little louder and the celebratory moves get a bit bigger. It becomes contagious. 

"Whenever Draymond hits a three, somebody’s going to hear about it," Looney said. "Whether it’s the ref, the coach, the players, somebody in the crowd, somebody is going to hear about it when Draymond hits a three. He hit a few tonight, he had it going.

"Draymond always hits big shots. He always hits it when we need it. He’s a special player. We all expect it. We like to talk too when he hits threes."

As the Warriors close out the regular season, they'll need more of this from Green. He has always been a spark for Golden State. But in the past, they've mainly relied on his personality for it. Now, they need it from a scoring perspective as well. 

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Oubre won't be re-evaluated until late next week. Lee says to not expect a return anytime soon. Eric Paschall is still getting his conditioning back. If the Warriors want to lock in the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference, they'll need some more scoring from Green. 

If the Warriors want to get past the play-in tournament, they'll need it. And if they want a shot at making a push in the playoffs, they'll definitely need it. 

So, bring on the gravy, Draymond. Your team needs it.

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